Photo by lonny.gomes

It’s big news for D.C. flyers who need to escape our decidedly square environs and make it to hipper climes: direct flights from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to both San Francisco and Portland were announced today, along with Austin and San Juan.

Starting with an inaugural flight today out of San Francisco, United will run the first direct flight from the city on the bay to DCA. Until now, anyone looking to fly direct to San Francisco had to settle for the trek out to Dulles. If that’s not enough, today the U.S. Department of Transportation gave Virgin America access to the same route.

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Transportation gave the go-ahead for a direct flight between Portland, Oregon and DCA and another between Austin, Texas and DCA. It also gave the green light to establish what we’ll call the Non-Voting Territories Express: a direct JetBlue flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico to DCA. That flight is expected to start service in the fall.

If you’re wondering why the federal government has to approve new routes in and out of DCA, here’s the explanation from DOT:

The new services were made available by the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, signed by President Obama on Feb. 14. The law created eight daily slot exemptions at Reagan National for airlines with little or no service at the airport to serve cities farther than 1,250 miles from Washington. Airlines cannot fly between Reagan National and cities beyond this limit unless Congress passes a law to authorize it. A slot, or slot exemption, is the right to take off or land at an airport where operations are limited. Two slots are needed for a round-trip flight, and the law provided for four new round trips.

We feel closer to our comrades-in-arms over at SFist and Austinist already.